Laguna Canyon Battle Reaches a Crossroads : Development: Federal appeals court will decide whether a full environmental review was conducted before a six-lane toll road through the wilderness was approved.

It is beautiful and serene, this rolling wilderness that has helped keep coastal Laguna Beach both physically and spiritually apart from the outside world.

Some residents are fond of saying that driving through winding, rustic Laguna Canyon at the end of the day is like sipping a martini.

Yet when speaking of the beloved canyon--one of only two routes into the community--much local sentiment is tinged with anger and pain.

That’s because for 25 years, many residents have fought doggedly to protect the canyon from development. And now, it seems, only the outcome of a hearing in federal appeals court today can block a six-lane toll road from being bulldozed through the canyon and the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park to link Newport Beach and San Juan Capistrano.

The so-called San Joaquin Hills project stirs uncommon passion in this city, a liberal bastion that boasts a noted artist colony and has conservative Orange County’s only ordinance banning discrimination against gays.

“This has been literally a fight for my way of life,” said Mark Chamberlain, an artist who has worked to save the canyon since 1969. “I feel strongly enough that if the (toll) road goes through, I’ll be looking to leave. . . . And I know a lot of people who are thinking of it like that.”

But there is another, more silent segment of the community.

Although not as outspoken as environmentalists, there are Laguna Beach residents who commute elsewhere to their jobs and believe that the toll road is desperately needed to ease the area’s maddening and chronic traffic congestion.

“We are very vocal in our opinion . . . there must be a group of people who feel like we do, desiring the San Joaquin Hills toll road,” said Robert R. Mosier, Laguna Beach Taxpayers Assn. president. “It’s the only way the traffic in Laguna Beach on Coast Highway will be reduced.”

The question before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is this:

Did the Federal Highway Administration conduct a full and proper environmental review before approving the toll road in July, 1992?

The $1.1-billion project, which is overseen by the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency, will be 17 miles long from Newport Beach to San Juan Capistrano. The challenge by environmental groups, led by Laguna Greenbelt Inc., concerns a 4.7-mile link through the Laguna Canyon area. Work on other sections of the road has proceeded since September, 1993.

Opponents contend that the federal agency rubber-stamped the project without considering other alternatives, such as bridges or tunnels that could offset potential damage to Laguna Canyon.

“We can also point to the (road’s) alignment and say that’s the wrong place for this road to go and move the alignment outside of the greenbelt,” said Joel R. Reynolds, attorney for Laguna Greenbelt Inc. “There are several examples we could offer. But what it boils down to is the (federal agency’s) failure to consider all of these alternatives.”

Rob Thornton, attorney for the tollway agency, said about $5 million in revenue will be lost each month that the tollway is not completed on schedule. Although he stopped short of calling the lawsuit frivolous, Thornton said the environmentalists’ argument that the federal agency acted illegally is without merit.

“The record doesn’t support them,” Thornton said. “The entire environmental process was about 20 years long. The Federal Highway Administration delayed approval of the final environmental report for 16 months, while they consulted with other federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Fish & Wildlife Service.”

Both sides will present oral arguments during today’s hearing, and the appeals court is expected to rule later this year. Meanwhile, an injunction on toll road construction in the canyon issued by the court in June is expected to remain in place.

If the court agrees with the environmentalists that the federal agency illegally approved the project, the agency will be required to begin a new study.

“My sense is, everybody’s eyes are turned to (today) and holding out some hope we’ll get a favorable ruling from the appeals courts,” Laguna Canyon Conservancy Director Mike Phillips said. “I think people know this is the whole ball game, right now.”

So this may be the last big battle over the canyon.

Barbara Stuart remembers the first campaign to preserve the canyon. It was in 1969, when a few residents led by bookstore owner Jim Dilley agreed that a band of greenery should rim the city. The canyon would be the centerpiece.

Stuart, now 78, joined Laguna Greenbelt Inc. six months after it was formed and served as the group’s treasurer for 18 years.

Chamberlain was another early enlistee. Back then, development--a “mass of homogenization”--was creeping toward the city from the north and south, he said. The greenbelt, including the canyon, “was the only thing that kept Laguna separate from the Orange Empire.”

“The people who lived here at the time realized this was an oasis,” Chamberlain said. “And the only way to keep it that way was to have the buffer between us.”

In 1987, as the Irvine Co. prepared to build the Laguna Laurel housing development in the canyon, City Councilwoman Lida Lenney, an environmentalist, formed the Laguna Canyon Conservancy to help continue the fight.

After seeking support throughout the county, the group tasted a surprisingly sweet victory when, on Nov. 11, 1989, between 7,000 and 8,000 people converged on Laguna Beach for a “Save The Canyon” march.

Soon afterward, the city and the developer crafted an agreement allowing Laguna Beach to buy the land in patches and preserve it as open space.

But conservancy director Phillips admits, this ceaseless struggle is taxing for the troops.

“Every time there’s a threat to the canyon, we have to win,” he said. “The development interests and the road builders only have to win once.”

Even some who oppose the toll road say it is time to hoist the white flag.

“The reality is, the battle is over,” said Darren Esslinger, whose family owns a mobile home park in Laguna Beach. “I think a lot of people are confused in this city, (thinking) somehow they can effect some kind of change to the plan. But it is really out of their hands.”

Many in the community are fatigued, still reeling from the Oct. 27 firestorm that damaged or destroyed more than 400 homes and scorched thousands of acres of open space.

Still, the protest against the toll road continues.

“It’s a very emotional issue,” said Kurt Topik, who has lived in Laguna Beach for three decades. After years of protesting, letter writing and giving money to the cause, Topik, 74, doesn’t fancy backing down now.

“We’ve got to make a stand someplace,” he said. “I’m a pretty old guy to be standing in front of a bulldozer, but I might still do that. I’m very angry. And if they want to lock me up, well, that’s OK too.”

In what may have been a preview of a continuing drama, both bulldozers and protesters raced to the canyon June 14 after a judge ruled that grading could begin. As the first row of tractors rolled over the hill that afternoon, protesters swore, wept and wailed.

The protest widened as the sun set and other city officials ended their workday and joined the ranks. The next day, a second court order halted the grading and set the crucial court hearing.

Since then, road opponents have worked steadily behind the scenes, staging intermittent protests and listing telephone numbers of those willing to do battle if the next ruling goes against them.

Laguna Beach Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr. said that in his 26 years on the force, he’s seen nothing rile locals like an issue that’s felt to be a threat to the canyon.

“There are some people who think demonstrators will be out there a day or two, and they’ll get tired, hot, hungry, cold--whatever the case may be--but that they’ll be done in a couple days,” he said.

Purcell disagrees: “They will be out there opposing it, even on opening day of the toll road.”